Harris-Walz team has largest mobilization week of campaign cycle
Written by ABC Audio ALL RIGHTS RESERVED on August 21, 2024
(WASHINGTON) — The Harris-Walz campaign effort to calcify the renewed enthusiasm from their party at the top of the ticket is seeing their biggest week of mobilization of the entire election cycle as the party’s national convention charges on in Chicago.
Ahead of the convention, the campaign launched what they characterize as a “weekend of action,” where over 10,000 volunteers barnstormed battlegrounds, making near 900,000 calls and knocking on more than 100,000 doors, contacting in sum over a million voters, per details first shared with ABC News. The campaign says that they were able to recruit over 24,000 volunteers.
Yet the most ambitious investments in organization will come at the latter half of the week — with the campaign hosting its largest telephone banking night of the cycle Wednesday, planning to launch 4,000 volunteers to work the lines.
On Thursday, the campaign will host 500 watch parties across the country in every state as Vice President Kamala Harris delivers her formal acceptance speech as the party’s newly minted nominee, a process that has come together in the short span of a month.
The campaign also held volunteer trainings and launched organizing resources on Monday and Tuesday.
“This week, Vice President Harris’ vision and story will be on full display for millions of American voters in key states. But our campaign isn’t stopping there— in fact, we’re redoubling our efforts to aggressively earn the support of the voters that will decide this election.” Battleground States Director Dan Kanninen said in a statement first sent to ABC News.
“On the stage at the Democratic National Convention and on the ground via thousands of organizing trainings, phone banks and watch parties across the country, this campaign is leveraging the moment to break through and meet voters where they are — exactly the work needed to win a tough and close election this November,” the statement continued.
These efforts are part of the campaign’s new efforts to mine the honeymoon buzz around Harris and Gov. Tim Walz, moving on turning any energy into action; mission critical with what continues to be a dead-heat race between Harris and former President Donald Trump several major battleground polls. This also comes as several grassroots voter groups host large-scale virtual telethons of sorts drawing big celebrity names to recruit volunteers and entice hefty donations, often netting millions of dollars each call.
Per a new ABC News/Ipsos poll, Harris and Walz lead former President Donald Trump and Ohio Sen. JD Vance by 50-45% among all adults. Among those now registered to vote, it’s 49-45%, a slight Harris advantage.
In a sharp swing from when President Joe Biden was the nominee, 60% of Harris’ backers support her strongly, matching Trump’s strong support and compared with just 34% strong support for Biden last month, ABC News/Ipsos found.
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